Apocalypse Now | Canadian First Time Watching | Movie Reaction | Movie Review | Movie Commentary

[@_Tim115]

Fun Facts: Francis Ford Coppola invested $7 million of his own money as the film was very over budget. Eventually he mortgaged his house and Napa Valley winery to complete the film. Harrison Ford picked his own character's name. He chose "G. Lucas" to honour George Lucas. And finally Laurence Fishburne lied about his age he was 14 when production began in 1976.

[@toastnjam7384]

He also sold the Godfather I and II to NBC as a seven-hour TV mini-series with previously deleted scenes. The Godfather Saga: The Complete Novel for Television.

[@FimbongBass]

The “and finally” part makes me think you say this a lot huh lol

[@jamesscanlan6240]

The interest on the loan was 27 per cent. The pressure must have been extraordinary. And now he's doing the same thing with Megalopolis; no one wants to make it so he sold his winery and is investing a hundred million of his own money.

[@joeshaver1104]

You mean "Larry Fishburn". One of the very few non Laurence names. Lol

[@kuribayashi84]

I always wondered: Did Ford shoot his Scene before he worked on Star Wars or after?

[@rpg7287]

This is not meant to be a realistic war movie. It’s meant to take Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and transport it to the Vietnam war. The result is a masterpiece. Simply one of the greatest movies ever made.

[@felipeaguena5289]

Dude....why?? Like seriously, I really really wanted to like this movie. I've even seen some analysises on it, I watched the crazy making of. But I just don't freaking get it, like, at all. I always thought it was supposed to be a real dark and disturbing take on going mad in war....but then Robert Duvall is trying to surf?? Playboy bunnies? Is it a comedy?? What the hell is going on, I don't get it

[@darkprose]

@@felipeaguena5289 You don’t get it at all? Wow. Okay. Fair enough. My advice is to go watch something else, something that doesn’t cause you so much distress. This film is not for you.

[@PolishGod1234]

​@@felipeaguena5289 Playboy bunnies scene is supposed to reflect the American culture and human nature. Each Bunny is dressed as American symbols -cowgirl, native American girl etc. Its America's way of reminding the soldiers of their home, which just makes things worse as It unleashes primal nature of soldiers who try to take bunnies for themselfs like bunch of Animals. Kilgore attacking a village to surf is to show the insanity of war as well as contrast between Kilgore and Kurtz - one slaughters whole village just to have fun and is approved by American military, the other one kills special agents to end the war as fast as possible yet he's the one American military calls "insane" simply because ending it fast is not the way America wants It.

[@user-tr3st4ms9g]

​@@felipeaguena5289because unlike you people who like it are 🤓

[@christopherbako]

It's actually very real. I have no idea where you got this.

[@donotevenbegintocare]

27:35 "We had too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane" - Coppolla on filming this. There are too many insane stories about the filming of this to pick just one. It's based on Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and by god did the crew and cast feel like Capt Willard by the end

[@dudermcdudeface3674]

He went on to say that was the perfect metaphor for US involvement in Vietnam too. It started out as training people to defend themselves, but turned to sheer lunacy because Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were psychopaths who saw the carnage in terms of their own posturing or even an economic strategy.

[@chesterbonaparte6787]

Anyone interested go check out critical drinkers "production hell" video on this film. Super interesting.

[@matthewdunham1689]

Too much cocaine also.

[@grilledlettuce1845]

@@dudermcdudeface3674 yes this is exactly the reason. I'm so glad I get my world view from parroted comments on KZbin. Fuckin society MANNNN

[@dudermcdudeface3674]

@@grilledlettuce1845 Huh?

[@rrmenton8016]

Once you see the image of Martin Sheen's head emerging from a swamp, you'll notice thereafter how frequently that iconic shot is emulated in so many other films.

[@malcolmrowe9003]

Doesn't Charlie Sheen recreate it in one of the Hot Shots films?

[@korganrocks3995]

@@malcolmrowe9003 I don't remember if they recreated that exact shot, but there's a whole sequence in Hot Shots 2 where Charlie Sheen and his group are on a riverboat and he's narrating, only for Martin Sheen's voice to join in with his own narration and their boats meeting. They both stand up, point at eachother and yell "I loved you in Wall Street!". The Hot Shots movies weren't known for their subtlety... ;)

[@mwrench4185]

Recently in Dune there's a shot with Skarsgard coming out of his bath similar to this...

[@Harv72b]

Danny Boyle payed homage twice: in _The Beach_ and in _28 Days Later_ .

[@OnionTaylorJoy]

Films, games etc. literally everywhere.

[@dabe1971]

24:13 Yep, real water buffalo. It had already been selected by the local tribe for sacrifice so Coppola decided to film it happening and incorporate in the movie so technically it wasn't harmed for the making of the movie.

[@christopherconard2831]

I envision Coppola, staring out at nothing. "We're in the middle of the Philippines.....A million miles from Hollywood and it's pathetic soul crushing rules.....We ran over budget before the first scene was shot.... We were supposed to be releasing the movie a year ago....God has blessed me with the purity of thought to know what is my will is his command.... The unaware will call it insanity.... I see the scene....KILL THE FUCKING COW!!!!"

[@JH-lo9ut]

Well, not exactly. The tribe celebrated a festival and did sacrifice a cow. Coppola saw it and decided he wanted to film it, so he bought another buffalo for them to sacrifice. This time they shot the scene. I think the first time it was filmed as documentary footage, but that is not the shot that's in the movie. It is gruesome for sure but for people who live in an pre-industrial agrarian society, this is normal. You slaughter animals so you can eat. At certain festive occasions, you slaughter a big expensive animal like a cow or a pig or a buffalo and that in of itself is a reason to celebrate. I think we can be quite sure the people of this tribe eat far less red meat than most of us in the west do.

[@flcl666flcl]

As a person that struggles with PTSD this movie really connected in a lot of ways. It's masterfully made and every actor does an incredible job.

[@seantlewis376]

As I said in my comment, this movie is not historically accurate, not militarily accurate, but it is very emotionally accurate for anyone who has seen combat. I think that was the goal of the film -- to convey the emotions of the people involved.

[@bogdanbotis1524]

What do you think of Kurtz? Do you relate? If yes, how are you doing on your journey to regain your inner peace?

[@christopherschreiber5805]

The perfect ending to Willard's narration, and my favorite line in a film ever: "Even the jungle wanted him dead, and that's really who he took his orders from anyway."

[@rgb1996]

I highly recommend The Dispatches by Herr. He helped with the script and also wrote Willard's narration in the movie. He was a military correspondent during the Vietnam war and every page of that book is cholk full of those haunting, beautiful one liners

[@somthingbrutal]

one reason Sheen looked exhausted by the end of the movie was the heart attack he suffered during production

[@GK-yi4xv]

He was a full-on alcoholic at the time. The drunken scene smashing the mirror in the hotel room was real, and Coppola decided to keep it in.

[@Malum09]

The horror… the horror… I love how it feels more like a surreal nightmare than a straight up war movie, I think many veterans actually described it like that

[@MySerpentine]

@@JamesJoyce12 So war has been mad for a long time, then.

[@MetalDetroit]

There is a book called Dispatches by Rolling Stones writer Michael Herr who spent months in the Seige at Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War. He was a consultant on the movie. The bridge scene is based on the US soldiers stranded at Khe Sanh with no leadership. In the book, he describes a black soldier using an M-79 tiger striped grenade launcher to take out enemy in the wire without aiming. (It shoots a high arch). That scene is recreated in the bridge scene right from what Herr described seeing during the seige.

[@katwebbxo]

Agreed. I'm not that into war movies in particular but this one always felt different.

[@donpietruk1517]

@@katwebbxo It's not really a war movie Kat. War just happens to be the setting. It's a psychological study that depicts the evils of imperialism on both those colonized and the colonizers. It results in death suffering and madness. If you have a chance read Joseph Conrad's novella The Heart Of Darkness, which this is taken from. It's not a long read and if anything the book is even darker than the film

[@katwebbxo]

@@donpietruk1517 Oh I'm aware trust me. I was just using war movie casually but I've always appreciated the overall/underlying themes in it since I first saw it and then read more about it. Haven't gotten around to reading the actual book yet but I'd love to check it out someday.

[@loaditz]

That opening with the flames and the Door's "The End" is a classic.

[@blueboy4244]

which was actually the radioed in airstrike on the compound..so the movie begins with the end

[@tahitifan100]

I love that take "Is the movie trying to make us crazy?"

[@LacoSinfonia]

As others have mentioned, this is based on a book called Heart of Darkness. There’s a great documentary about the hell of making this film called Hearts of Darkness. Highly recommend.

[@redmatador7595]

Yeah very interesting. I don't remember if they mentioned this in that one but i remember hearing Coppola got suicidal because of all the stress. Crazy how real world events can sort of bleed into fiction and then later impact other humans in the future....

[@TTM9691]

Hey Ian, thanks for "Thick As A Brick", just listened to it this morning! 🤩

[@leonh.kalayjian6556]

Isn't the book set in Africa?

[@caseymoe816]

The documentary is great and was done by Coppala’s wife, so the story and footage is unbelievable. Sheen almost died, studio tried to shut it down, Coppola losing everything to make the film-and then him and Brando sitting up for days on a hill writing/re-writing the ending to a movie that wasn’t finished. The result is a masterpiece of movie making.🤙

[@mikgus]

@@leonh.kalayjian6556 Yes it was set in congo

[@mikeduplessis8069]

I saw this film when it came out in 1979 at age 25. Walking out of the theater at night I hated the film. By the time I had got back home I concluded it was the greatest film I'd ever seen. That was this only time a film had grown on me like that.

[@richardpetty9159]

I took my father to see this movie -I was 19 or 20 years old. We both loved it then. And you are right. This movie has to steep in your head for a while before you really appreciate it.

[@korganrocks3995]

I had that experience once with a book; The Trial by Kafka. Read it in high school, hated every minute of my time reading it, but afterward I concluded it was amazing. I really should re-read it one of these days, but it was just so exhausting! :D

[@ju4408]

​@@korganrocks3995Kafka's "Before the Law" was the first chapter to the core class of one of my degrees. HATED it. I've worked in the legal field for 20 years, and think of it nearly daily now as the most simple fable of how the legal system actually works. I can't even put words to it most times. It's like a Zen koan that sinks in over time and means more, but differently, every time.

[@stratocruising]

1. There has never been a more perfect blending of movie and music than this. The Doors "The End", off their first album, is perfect for the theme of the movie. 2. FYI At the very end, PBR (Patrol Boat, River) Street Gang calls in Arclight to Almighty. Arclight was a strategic bombing campaign by the Air Force's B52s. it was later followed by Operation Rolling Thunder. 3.I saw this movie in 1980 at the base theater at Osan AB, in Korea, five air minutes south of the DMZ. Given the year, a good number of the more senior people on base had served in Vietnam. When the movie was over and as the crowd walked out, instead of the usual hubbub of conversation, there was not a sound from anybody. Everybody went straight to the bowling alley which was the only base facility still open that served beer. And started drinking steadily to silence the demons.

[@Shiny7054]

43 years later, still one of the best looking films ever. Just incredible to look and you can tell that directors like Michael Bay and Tony Scott were admirers

[@fmellish71]

The metaphor for going upriver is simultaneously a travel back in the human timeline from the Vietnam War to the beginnings of antiquity as well as a journey further and further into the layers of the individual psyche into the collective unconscious. Note as Lance goes further upriver, he gradually becomes more and more like a indigenous person and he's the only one of the PBR Street Gang who lives because he took that internal journey throughout the mission along with Willard. There are also allusions to Homer's Odyssey, like Kilgore as the Cyclops, the Playboy bunnies as the Sirens and the Dolong bridge scene as the river Styx. One thing that the old comparative mythologist Joseph Cambell said that "Every myth is psychologically symbolic. Its narratives and images are to be read, therefore, not literally, but as symbols," and it was Coppola's absolute mission to make a myth out of this film. Campbell also said that it was that Western people don't understand symbols the way that different cultures did that was their biggest problem and I agree with that. Overtime, we've descended further and further into psychological and cultural decay because we don't understand the symbolic language of our unconscious and instead try to explain everything logically in a language we created to only engage with our everyday lives that our five senses perceive.

[@newmoon766]

My, my, sir! You are so erudite! I love Campbell. Robert Graves is also a fave. I have a copy of White Goddess in my to-be-read pile of books. King Jesus was very enlightening, especially after a reading of The Lost Books of the Bible.

[@blackmetalcumbia]

thats why some philosophers talk about how Plato and Aristotle kill philosophy. the west and east is like the same coin, Pitagoras, Orfism, the pre socratic wisdom and so on in the sense of spirituality religion and philosophy in the same formula, even poetry and human expression dead by scholars and proselitism. This is the end and the born of a new west where christian doctrine and capitalism then fathom a new son. Also going upriver always was a metaphor and the reality of a ancient world : egypt upriver is nubia and ethiopia, a magical land full of ancient wisdom. Maybe lemuria, hyyperborea or tule is a metaphor of our unconcious mind and not a real land?

[@scotthewitt258]

Redux really makes the timeline thing even more clear. They literally meet French soldiers left over from the previous war.

[@notabritperse]

Now, when you lighten things up & eventually get to "Hot Shots - Part Deux," you'll be treated to the greatest hit & run cameo EVER.

[@korganrocks3995]

Have they ever watched Hot Shots 1?

[@notabritperse]

@@korganrocks3995 I don't recall; covered myself with "eventually," just in case. After (great) movies like this and "No Country for Old Men," shifting into some well-executed idiocy could be refreshing for them.

[@korganrocks3995]

@@notabritperse I taped both Hot Shots movies on VHS as a kid and watched them countless times before I ever saw Top Gun or Rambo! :D I hope they watch them, because some well-executed idiocy is always a good time!

[@jculver1674]

"I loved you in Wall Street!"

[@glenkamerling5333]

@@jculver1674 👍

[@Osentalka]

Although this was released after New Hope, Harrison Ford filmed his role years before when he was still relatively unknown.

[@stevesheroan4131]

This is exactly why I love this reaction channel. These guys were so perplexed at the end of this movie it proved how invested they were. I think this is one of the best reactions to this movie that I’ve seen, despite the relative lack of commentary at the end. That may be because this movie speaks for itself…

[@TomH2681]

I wish they'd spend 10 or 20 minutes after the film to analyse/review it, like TBR Schmitt for example. But in the immortal words of Simone: "I don't do words."

[@TwinStripe]

A few others have mentioned it, but 'Heart of Darkness' is definitely worth a watch - you wonder how anyone survived, let alone how they made such an iconic movie out of it all...

[@richardb6260]

There was a controversy about Coppola possibly using real corpses because the heads looked so real. Turns out they were real heads. The set had holes for actors to stick their heads through to be a severed head.

[@UnlicensedOkie]

According to what I read, Lawrence Fishburne was only 14 when production of this movie started. He lied about his age to get the role. Production actually took so long, that he was 18 when the movie was finally finished

[@TomH2681]

Wait, so does that mean Harrison Ford did Apocalypse Now before he did Star Wars?

[@amstrad00]

@@TomH2681 Yes, Ford's appearance as the character Colonel G. Lucas (deliberate nod to George by Coppola) was filmed prior to the filming for Star Wars, despite Star Wars releasing first.

[@stefkukla8533]

I think he was credited as "Larry Fishburne".

[@peterstephen6596]

"Heart of Darkness" is a short book and is really worth checking out. Now that you'v seen this the imagery of the jungle and heat when you read the original story it hits even harder. It really is a fantastic book and is one of my top favorite of all time. Glad you enjoyed the film the music and sound design in this movie is world class. Love and Respect

[@GK-yi4xv]

Even more remarkable considering the author (Conrad) was originally Polish and didn't start learning English until he was nearly 30.

[@mimikurtz2162]

"Now that you've seen this imagery of the jungle and heat" ......... I first read the book while sitting in the treeline on the bank of the Zambezi River, trying not to move in case I melted and spread like toasted cheese. I had just finished a year of fighting, mostly with a free hand, in the Rhodesian bush war. ............"when you read the original story it hits even harder." "And the fleshed soldier, rough and hard of heart, in liberty of bloody hand shall range with conscience wide as Hell". Shakespear, Henry V.

[@shainewhite2781]

This movie had a lot of production problems: Francis Ford Coppola wanted to kill himself than finish the movie as he was behind schedule. Marlon Brando arrived on the set grossly overweight and Coppola would get into arguments with him onset. Dennis Hopper was actually high on cocaine while filming his scenes. Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack and filming had to shutdown for a month. Live animals were seen prowling the sets day and night. The helicopters used in the movie were stolen after the village raid was filmed. There was a revolution going in the Philippines at the time. Filming began in 1977, but finally wrapped in 1979, after 2 years of delays and setbacks

[@salmanedy]

The helicopters weren't stolen. It was loaned by the Filipino government who would frequently get the helicopter off the set to be used to blow up actual rebels.

[@flyingardilla143]

This is one of the best war movies and it is barely about the war it depicts.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

I think it’s one of the best movies, period.

[@no_rubbernecking]

Simone - "That movie was messed up" Guys, the freaking _war_ was messed up. How can one tell a fair story of that war without reflecting that? Coppola was blessed with the understanding that if he didn't tell the story right in the 70s, the memories would fade and future generations would not be able to understand something that should never, ever have happened.

[@adamwhite767]

While this war was messed up, as it is portrayed here is just a modern (for the time) telling of the original book "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. My father, who served in VietNam as a combat Marine during the Test Offensive says that this is a fantasy telling of the war at not even remotely like the real thing.

[@no_rubbernecking]

@@adamwhite767 We killed over a million civilians. My dad was there too and i won't get into everything he told me. The Pentagon Papers are more than enough and if you know what they threatened important people with to keep them secret then you may understand. I lost my only sister and her mother in that war. My sister was an infant. She was murdered by the Americans while her mother was just going about her personal business. If you think crimes like that don't warrant a hyperbolic presentation to get the point across then you may not have have understood the situation yourself. _We had no business there!_ Our stated purpose was to uphold the theft of a fair election, using military force! We were there to subvert the values that we ourselves stood for! And our government didn't care that their hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy was on full display. How many other wars had so many fighters returning home totally disgusted with what they'd been a part of. I mean one had to literally be brainwashed to not feel that way. And to this day we try to lie and cover up the obvious fact that we had our backside handed to us and limped back with our tail between our legs. The film was an act of protest. Just as Americans had to protest and go to jail and have their lives destroyed in order to make the war end, Coppola had to protest publicly and risk his well-being in order to preserve the record for future generations. A record that continues to be hidden and distorted to this day. What the Hell were we even doing there? We were the usurpers, we were the lawless, we were the insane, brainwashed, bloodthirsty, idolatrous cultists. Is that not the clear point of Heart of Darkness?? It's about people being where they have no business being, where they weren't invited and aren't wanted, destroying everything good that was created by others, acting like they own the place and the people, made possible using weapons and the threat of genocide to enforce it. If you hadn't understood this then i hope you can, because it is the entire point of both stories. The Viet Nam War was so evil, it caused a multigenerational shift in the US, from barely sane to totally insane. We even have the foreshadow of modern Russia where _"it's not a war, damn it, it's a police action"._ Why that was so important was for the same reason as today: it sets the tone for whitewashing and covering up the genocide that actually happened over there, at American hands. That kind of Orwellian insanity is what Coppola is pointing to with the funhouse presentation. It's a literary technique called a metaphor, not sure if you've heard of it. My dad told me truth for only one reason: because he was not taken in by the brainwashing, so he had no motivation to lie. The film seeks to immunize others who weren't there from the same tactic so that they can also know and share the truth. Denial of a well-documented genocide, particularly a racially motivated one, is one of the worst crimes any person can commit. Almost as bad as willingly taking part in it.

[@MetalDetroit]

@@adamwhite767 There is a book called Dispatches by Rolling Stones writer Michael Herr who spent months in the Seige at Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War. He was a consultant on the movie. The bridge scene is based on the US soldiers stranded at Khe Sanh with no leadership. In the book, he describes a black soldier using an M-79 tiger striped grenade launcher to take out enemy in the wire without aiming. (It shoots a high arch). That scene is recreated in the bridge scene right from the chaos and fear Herr described seeing during the seige.

[@redmatador7595]

These american vietnam movies really impacted me as a kid. Basically taught me all I needed to know about wars. Even 'good' intentions can lead to horrible situations. They turn humans into animals. And this is no different with the wars today... :(

[@jculver1674]

I grew up watching all of them with my dad, who is a Vietnam veteran. So even though they can be depressing to watch, I have a weird kind of nostalgia for them. Bat 21 and Flight of the Intruder are two other good ones that don't get much attention these days.

[@williewilliams6571]

@@jculver1674 John Milius was one of the screenwriters for this and went on to be a hell of a director- he did The Wind and the Lion, Red Dawn, Conan the Barbarian, Flight of the Intruder. He also wrote most of Quint's USS Indianapolis story in "Jaws".

[@jculver1674]

@@williewilliams6571 He also inspired the character of Walter in The Big Lebowski.

[@peeramidwithin3823]

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"

[@MySerpentine]

Not like we really had good intentions, either. It was just a power play, the Viet Cong had even asked for our help first but we liked the colonialists better.

[@MrHws5mp]

I used to talk to a Vietnam vet on a long-gone web forum, and one day he came out with the story about the babies' arms. Everybody said, "hey c'mon, that's the story from Apocalypse Now!", but he'd never seen the film because he was scared it would trigger his PTSD. When he did a bit of research, it turned out that one of the technical advisors on the movie had been in his unit...

[@MetalDetroit]

There is a book called Dispatches by Rolling Stones writer Michael Herr who spent months in the Seige at Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War. He was a consultant on the movie. The bridge scene is based on the US soldiers stranded at Khe Sanh with no leadership. In the book, he describes a black soldier using an M-79 tiger striped grenade launcher to take out enemy in the wire without aiming. (It shoots a high arch). That scene is recreated in the bridge scene right from what Herr described seeing during the seige.

[@RussellCHall]

All the surfing talk in the movie is because John Milius' involvement with the script, he was a huge surfer and a great screen writer who was friends with all the greats of 70's film (Lucas, Depalma, Spielberg,etc.etc.) he was also a famously reactionary who would pull guns on Hollywood producers, John Goodman's Walter Sobchak in the Big Lebowski is based on him (except of course Walter actually went to war), my father was from the Vietnam army generation and a huge film buff and always said ," I hate everything about John Milius' except his writing, directing, and producing, which I love." I tend to agree

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Big Wednesday is a pretty great movie. It’s totally fallen off the radar.

[@GK-yi4xv]

I've heard that the surfing culture of Southern California was somehow over-represented among the soldiers sent to Vietnam, or just that they had a larger-than-life presence over there and stood out.

[@glennzaneson1092]

I saw this at the cinema in 1981, the night before I joined the Royal Australian Air Force. I was 16 years old. It effected me my whole life. Now I'm 58 a returned veteran and I live in the remote bush in a horse drawn caravan. Powerful movie.

[@alphajava761]

I like the symbolism of the killing the bull, because it's the way life works, literally or metaphorically. This movie set the raw tone for all war and military movies made after.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

When all is said and done, it’s really not about the Vietnam War. It’s about War itself, War as a primordial aspect of the human condition.

[@GK-yi4xv]

@@MarcosElMalo2 Imo, it's more generally about the 'thin veneer of civilization', and of how far most of us might fall when the trappings of civilization are truly removed (ie for Kurtz). It's based fairly closely on a short story set in Africa in the 19th century, involving a trading/exploration company rather than the military ('Heart of Darkness') Even the name 'Kurtz', and 'The horror, the horror!') come straight from the book.

[@sabalos]

Disappearing into the jungle to film your epic movie and nearly going insane became kind of a thing for directors in the 70s. Apocalypse Now is the most famous, but William Friedkin did it with Sorcerer (1977) and Werner Herzog with Fitzcarraldo (1982) - all completely different movies from one another, but all awesome.

[@jcoltrane8976]

Sorcerer is a masterpiece.

[@salmanedy]

Sorcerer should have been longer. It needed to be at least 2 hours and 45 minutes. It's too short for its own good.

[@Cheryworld]

Yes Fitzcarraldo, Kinski, one of the truly crazy actors ever. Also - Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Also Herzog and Kinki, set centuries earlier in South America, Spanish conquistador, seeking El Dorado, the City of Gold

[@jculver1674]

I've seen a fan theory that Martin Sheen's character hallucinates this whole movie in his mind while slowly dying in the hotel room we see at the beginning.

[@redmatador7595]

Dont know about that but he was almost dying...when he had a heartattack during the shooting of the film. 🤐

[@LuisOrtiz-xo5kc]

You guys made the best choice in reacting to the theatrical cut. The extended version (Redux) adds a lot of extra scenes that don't really add much to the story, except maybe the French plantation scene, which has a couple of interesting political commentaries on Vietnam from the French perspective. In any case, Apocalypse Now, in whatever edition, is a masterpiece.

[@AbolitionistPrivateer]

I disagree--the extended version completes so much of the story. The feeling of disconnection for much of the story is fixed by showing the whole thing. It provides much more context.

[@canadious6933]

@@AbolitionistPrivateer Yeah, it isn't so much as the story of a film in a strict script that interested me but the emotional experience that the extended cut gives. Because I feel the purpose of the film is the emotions of the viewer, not about a crafted script

[@lobachevscki]

@@AbolitionistPrivateer There is a third cut that is actually the Director's Cut released in 2019 as a celebration of the 40th anniversary. It is a very balanced in between between the theatrical and Redux. The theatrical is definitely imcomplete and Redux drags a lot.

[@inkmagnet]

@@lobachevscki While I really love to watch the re-dux and agree it's the better cut I prefer to show first time viewers the original cut.

[@jd190d]

Some things don't change. In 81 I was in Germany (Army) on Reforger (large scale military exercise) and I had 2 days of KP. At the mess tent they sheets of bacon that they threw into pots and boiled, then sent them out in the mermite containers with half real eggs and half artificial so it has that green tint and I just remember thinking how could you do that to food. Didn't matter though, when you're hungry it's good enough. That' why you always bring Tabasco sauce with you to the field.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

I think Pendleton Marines bring Tapatio hot sauce. It’s a California thing. If I was hungry, I could probably eat a boiled boot if you put Tapatio onit.

[@jd190d]

@@MarcosElMalo2 This was back in 1981, the hot sauce choices were very limited then.

[@TomVCunningham]

Laurence Fishburne went from 14yrs old (he lied about his age to get the part) to 18yrs old from the start of filming to the film's release. Crazy.

[@powerpointpaladin6911]

Harvey Keitel is in the movie about 3 seconds ... he was supposed to be Willard, but after a short time was replaced with Sheen. They kept one scene with Keitel, a far shot where you cant see Willard's face.

[@bengr98]

To answer your question @7:30, No they did not officially play music, However, there was "Operation Wandering Soul".

[@kennethstevenson4817]

Pretty much all cast and crew went crazy while making this movie, there is a great documentary called Heart of Darkness, named after a short story the movie is based on, about the making of the Apocalypse Now, is one of the best watches. My uncle was a marine and he and is crew were stationed at a place called China Beach, to keep it clean so guys could come a serf.

[@imp736]

I spent my in country R&R at China Beach(1970), I was stationed at Phu Bai, 596th Signal Co U.S. Army.

[@maisiesummers42]

There was a TV series called China Beach, set in an evac hospital during the Vietnam war. I wonder if the series title was inspired by the real thing.

[@wsn0009]

The brutal terrain and shot on-location filming really made this challenging. They just don't make movies like this anymore. I remember watching the documentary on this in film school. This experience was hell for the actors and crew.

[@donnieboughton1730]

How'd film school work out for ya?

[@Dularr]

​@@donnieboughton1730 A film degree can actually workout if you follow up with a masters program. Had a family member go to film school for fun and then got a masters in Non Profit Administration.

[@donnieboughton1730]

@@Dularr okay and how did the film degree help?

[@Dularr]

@@donnieboughton1730 Again, you need a degree to get a masters. Filmmaking is a business. Plenty of jobs you can get with a film degree.

[@donnieboughton1730]

@@Dularr very few people who make movies have film degrees...and probably even fewer people with masters degrees would ever have a film degree.

[@meadmaker4525]

A masterpiece of poetry and wanton, senseless violence viewed through the lens of a psychedelic fever dream.

[@ronaldmilner8932]

Well said!

[@calm713]

The opening scene IS the ending, that's why the song "This is the end." That's what happens at the very end of the movie that they don't show, as they showed it in the beginning.

[@wakkadakka9192]

One of the greatest movies ever made. From a story side and from a production side. I recommend you to watch a movie about making that movie.

[@georgekenny2294]

There were four different endings to the movie. One of the endings, and the one I watched for years and years ends with massive explosions, killing everyone except the people on the boat. This one where everyone lives is quite strange. But they did release four different endings in the theaters to see which one tested the best.

[@christopherconard2831]

This originally confused me. I remembered everyone just leaving, then I saw a version that ended with everything burning.

[@mimikurtz2162]

In this version we see Willard leave the boat clutching a knife, then his head emerging from the water, then Willard is on the temple steps holding a machete. In the first version I saw, after the head scene Willard slithers out of the river into the jungle like a primordial amphibian monster and methodically makes his way to the temple, coldly and efficiently killing any sentries. It is a remarkable progress for both Willard and the weapons he uses, and explains where he got the machete. There is a much longer film of the ceremony and buffalo sacrifice available on KZbin but in low quality video and sound. Combined with the above sequence and in better quality it would be amazing. It builds up tension before the assassination to an almost unbearable level so that the audience shares Willard's blood lust and are desperate for release through an orgy of violence. Perhaps it was considered too much or overemphasised the analogy of sacrificing the water buffalo and jettisoning Kurtz. It could never be included in the movie as it was, because of its length (over 40 minutes) but would have been a superb final episode for a series. That would be a great project for someone with access to the hundreds of hours of out-takes.

[@algi1]

Fun fact: a bunch of the voice over was done by Martin Sheen's brother Joe Estevez, who is a perfect soundalike. Look up the interview with him on KZbin, he tells about an amaznig moment: he had a drinking problem and he couldn't pronounce a line. Coppola got angry with him and that snapped him out of his alcoholism.

[@elchoya8432]

Charlie Sheen's narration in Platoon reminds me of this film,sounds just like his dad in Platoon

[@jimbrown868]

As a kid who was draft age during this time in history...this movie was terrifying. But the movie that REALLY scared me was "The Deerhunter." Check it out, guys.

[@daniellongo7611]

13 year old Lawrence Fishburne. One of the greatest war films ever done. Coppola's wife made a documentary during the filming, which was an odyssey in itself, and is as good a doc as this is a film; you get to really like Francis Coppola's work and his driven nature to get this film done. As you're both invested deeply with film, I think you'll love her documentation of a film that, for so so many setbacks, almost never got seen. P.S., and this is absolutely not a recommendation, so's ya know; it's one of the greatest films to watch very very high and speculate about afterward.😁You're both wonderful. Enjoy.

[@OnionTaylorJoy]

13? Holy shit.

[@JW666]

14.

[@tlldrkhndy]

I recently read "Heart of Darkness". This film takes the book to a whole different level.

[@darkprose]

The helicopter attack on the beach is one of the greatest practical effect sequences ever put to film. The choreography for those Hueys is balletic.

[@falcon215]

Enjoyed this reaction to this amazing movie on the absurdity of that war (or any war in general for that matter). If you're so inclined, I highly suggest "Catch-22", another underrated classic film dealing with the effects of strain on a bomber squadron in WW2 based in the Mediterranean when their commanding office keeps raising the number of missions they need to fly before finishing their tour of duty.

[@MrAkilleus]

I freaking love this movie! ❤️ One of my top ten for sure. The gradual escalation of dread that you feel while watching it is just breathtaking and you just can't tare your eyes away. Pure magic.

[@tehdipstick]

The reason Coppola decided to keep Marlon Brando mostly in the shadows is because while Brando was is pretty decent shape when they decided to cast him, by the time they started filming he had gained a lot of weight. Coppola was incredibly upset as he had to figure out a way to hide Brando's increased girth while still presenting him as an in-shape former military officer, and simultaneously giving him an intimidating on-screen presence. Having him being mostly obscured by dark shadows achieved this effect. I like how you noticed that the further up the river they go, and the further away they get from 'civilization', the more they lose of their humanity.

[@dheepakm1825]

My favourite movie of all time.. the documentary is equally mind blowing..

[@Maya_Ruinz]

As a veteran this movie disturbs me far more then Full Metal Jacket because it feels way more visceral and honest to my own experience. A lot of wild and crazy things happened on my 2 tours in Iraq, there were so many moments of chaos and fear that this movie truly captures in the faces and situations that Captain Willard comes across. legality goes out the window when in warzones, we had units that got away with the worst things mostly because the leadership just stopped caring, they wanted it done and the ends justify the means. Its a sad state of affairs all around but there is a reason so many are against war because once the war starts.. all bets are off.

[@gregall2178]

5:35 ...in the glasses is Daniel Kiewit, a classmate of mine at DeVry in '89... He has lots of stories about the filming. He ended up leaving the program to take a position as a commercial diver. Cool guy.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Be sure to watch Coppolla's wife's documentary about this movie called "Heart of Darkness", it's awesome!!

[@acecombatter6620]

Re: Youth. As I recall, his credit reads "Larry Fishburn".

[@user-dx1jb4zq9e]

Kurtz is the only sane character in the entire film. Kilgore's character is meant to be the counter weight to Kurtz. Only Kurtz sees what is necessary to win and thereby bring about an end to the war. Everybody else will prolong the killing and suffering by play acting, shirking responsibility, pretending the war is something other than what it is. When Kilgore says "someday this war is going to end," it calls attention to the fact that his take on the war is basically "hey, I just work here." He's making Vietnam like home and barbecuing and surfing because it's just a job. He'll go on barbecuing, surfing, and bombing people into oblivion for as long as Washington pursues the war. That's what's insane. The war itself is insane. Only Kurtz sees that about it. It's about consequentialist morality, or judging the moral value of an action by its real world consequence rather than judging it by the intentions behind it. Kurtz, because his morality is based on consequences, would end the war by being as ruthless as necessary to win it, while everybody else would just prolong it because their morality is based on the "lies" than both Willard and Kurtz allude to in the film. The lie is that Washington and the generals' approach to the war is the morally superior one because it has the surface appearance of decorum, proportionality, and restraint, as if intentions determine the moral value of an action. Kurtz is the only one with clarity because he's the only one who sees the war and its horror for what it is and accepts it. It's like the Zen idea of mindfulness applied to the horror of war. He says you have to "make a friend of horror." He doesn't run away from what the war is, he embraces it. Everybody else pretends it's something other than what it is, like Kilgore who treats the fighting as if it's an after thought when what he's really interested in is finding good waves to surf, so the war just grinds on and on. I think people get confused about this because they're not used to watching Hollywood war films written by right wingers like John Milius. They'll see antiwar left wing handwringing in the film even when it's not there because that's just what what we're used to. The title of the film comes from Milius once seeing a hippie antiwar bumper sticker or pin that said "peace now." His response to this was "apocalypse now." Much has been made of its use of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and the idea that if you fight monsters you risk becoming the monster you fight, which is an antiwar message, but Milius's script is really subverting this idea like he did that hippie bumper sticker. Milius is saying "if you fight the war, you *have* to become the monster if that's what it takes to win it."

[@Rick-or2kq]

I watched an interview with Vietnam combat veteran and something he said really stuck with me, "humans are murders the military is just a finishing school."

[@anthonyleecollins9319]

I still remember watching this at the Ziegfeld Theatre in NYC (first run, reserved seats, printed program). The lights went down, the film started, and you could hear the helicopters coming from the back of the theater toward the screen. I saw the Redux version when it came out, in IMAX. I've always been somewhat partial to the original, but both are essential viewing if you're into film.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Yeah, I prefer the original theatrical release. There’s no excess fat. I appreciate the French plantation scene in Redux, though. That said, I don’t think that the second Bunny scene added much to the movie.

[@crisdekker8223]

I love the view of Cinebinge in the morning.

[@Rothbard_is_God8082]

The movie is crazy because the Vietnam War was crazy. The movie itself is one giant commentary on Vietnam. To quote Coppola: "My film is not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam. It's what it was really like. It was crazy."

[@MrNihilist74]

I am glad you reacted to this movie. In my opinion, it is one of the best movies ever made.

[@ronaldmilner8932]

100%.

[@dnllrnt]

True, it was after Star Wars. But Ford filmed his scenes in '76/early '77. He was still an unknown actor. Filming took nearly 3 years to complete.

[@DwarfsRBest]

"Is the movie trying to make us crazy?" Yes, yes it is

[@marklittrell3202]

Funny that you mention the river is the descent into madness. It's based on Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but THAT was set in much older times about the Congo River (or something) in another era. This was the modernized epic based on that.

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

"Subscribe, or your socks will always be wet!" You vicious, heartless cad!

[@billbabcock1833]

Some have noted that this is adapted from the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness. What I haven't seen mentioned is that novel was written in 1899. Yes, EIGHTEEN 99. And it wasn't Vietnam, it was Africa. I'd read the novel in college before the movie came out. My take on what's it about is simply that there's a very fine line between "civilized" and "savage". An easy to cross line.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

You want more relevance? Joseph Conrad was Ukrainian-Polish before he became a British citizen.

[@GK-yi4xv]

@@MarcosElMalo2 Even more - he didn't start learning English until nearly 30!

[@MinimalAesthetics]

Martin Sheen had a heart attack during filming. In the opening scene he really got drunk and punched that mirror, cutting his hand

[@masamune2984]

Fun fact (I hate that phrase): This film was one (of many) of Kojima’s influences for the character of “Big Boss” aka OG Snake in the MGS series ☺️

[@iwanttocomplain]

It’s based on Heart of Darkness about an upstanding cleric who travels down the African Nile (I think) to recover a war hero who went missing in the jungle. But find his charge has gone native. The jungle resents the dark primordial nature which is suggested lurks deep in heart of mankind. Willard’s journey is not to destroy Kurtz but the demon lurking in his soul that is trying to possess and destroy him. It’s like one of the darkest films ever made.

[@MrGreekstatue]

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning" iconic scene.

[@philstubblefield]

You now, the cover art you guys create for these reactions are often hysterical or terrifying, but this amalgam of Simone's head on Robert Duvall's body may be the most unsettling! 😬

[@richardbalducci819]

Col. Kurtz became a “God” (Osiris); the Bull was associated with Osiris in ancient Egypt. Col. Kurtz is killed as the Bull is slain, re-enacting “The Death and Resurrection of Osiris”, whereby Col. Kurtz (Osiris) dies and his replacement, Cap. Willard, is resurrected in his place as the new “God” known as Horus. 💜🍸

[@TheToscanaMan]

"I feel like the river that he is going up is descending into madness"... haha I'm thinking buckle up George. Buckle up. You ain't seen nothing yet.

[@Graphite42]

"Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goddamn right. Unless you were goin' all the way." Saw this for the first time on the big screen at the Castro Theater. Watching it on a TV or monitor doesn't do it justice.

[@noneofurbizness5838]

I would highly recommend watching "Hearts of Darkness, a Filmmaker's Apocalypse" the documentary on the movie. Sheen actually hit the mirror, cut his hand. Fishburn was only 15, and drug use was rampant.

[@MrFuggleGuggle]

Dennis Hopper was not originally cast in the movie. Supposedly he just wandered on set high on drugs, and they just let him roll with it. Amazing performance!

[@conureron3792]

Walter Sobchak’s character in the Big Lebowski was based on the actual screenplay writer for Apocalypse Now.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@justmeeagainn I’ve heard that rumor, too. I’m not sure I really believe it, but it’s 100% possible that Walter was based partly on John Milius.

[@Klung1]

The narrative is in many ways drawn from Homer’s The Odyssey. The surfing Kilgore is the cyclops, the playboy bunnies are the sirens, etc.

[@Britcarjunkie]

R. Lee Ermey (the drill instructor from "Full Metal Jacket") is also in this. There were a few different ending credit scenes to this: one is this one, with the black screen, and the other shows the B-52 strike on the area, after the boat leaves.

[@michaellund2818]

I snuck into this film as a 13 year old...will never forget the ending, liquid flames silently swirling on a black screen, lighting an ancient temple.. I know now there were multiple credit takes, wondered about it for years because none of my rewatches featured that indelible imagery. Still not sure how to find it, or if it's even available.

[@ASDF-mb8we]

I hope you guys watch Platoon sometime, it's by Oliver Stone who is a Vietnam veteran.

[@harlanginsberg7269]

The story is based on the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. That book took place in Africa and was about a boat traveling into the most savage parts of Africa. Coppola just inserted different Viet Nam scenarios to show the chaos and worthlessness of the Viet Nam War. In that book the lead character was given a text by someone named Kurtz (an ivory trader) who has gone "native"The question that both the book and the movie deal with is who are really savages us or the people we call savages.

[@unxprienced9548]

Fun Fact: Martin Sheen was drunk in the first scene of the movie to make it more realistic!

[@ElenasDad]

Apocalypse Now is truly the greatest movie of all time. People can debate endlessly which movie is the best of all time. But Apocalypse Now is the greatest.

[@brendandrislane4560]

When an officer pulls out a coffee mug in the middle of a gunfight, you can goddamn guarantee its intentional. They black magic of combat leadership is a fucking mental maze.

[@jonahpedersen5429]

When I was in the Gulf War the brass brought the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders out to us for some kind of USO show. We hadn’t seen a live woman for months.

[@okeefe757]

This is back when he was called Larry Fisburne.

[@shreknet]

Like in Dream Warriors lols

[@pete_lind]

​@@shreknet It's been mixed in MASH 4077 episode in 1982 he was Larry , Death Wish 2 from 1982 he was Lawrence . Rumble Fish again Larry . After he played Ike in 1993 its been Lawrence . 20 first years in show business he was mainly credited as Larry .

[@TheeGoatPig]

I am around 4 years older than this movie. I watched almost every movie I could for my first 28 years. I'm surprised this wasn't one of them.

[@skolkor]

"Is the movie trying to make us crazy?" I had a good laugh at that. The one time I've watched this movie I was at home with a cold and had a fever, so everything after they reached the temple was just like a fever dream to me. Watching this I perfectly remember the scene with the surfing, the puppy hidden in the basket, and the grenade launcher being fired into nothing, but I've never been able to recall a single scene or line from the last part of the movie. It was like I transcended into a higher plane of consciousness but wasn't allowed to bring any knowledge back to the corporeal world.

[@PGHEngineer]

"I feel like the river that he's going up is like descending into madness". Yep, it was exactly that metaphor in Hear of Darkness on which this is based. The bridge is also a metaphor for crossing into total insanity.

[@tonygriffin_]

There's a longer, redux version too - it's about another hour or so. Adapted from the book by Joseph Conrad, 'Heart of Darkness', one of the very first novels of the 20th century. There is a good documentary about the making of this film, with a lot of crazy stories in it about the production. Martin Short suffered a heart attack he was so stressed but, after a break, returned to finish the film. The scene at the start in the hotel room, where he is drunk and doing some martial arts moves, was filmed when Short was actually very drunk and with Coppola prompting him to really cry by talking about Short's kids and wife who he hadn't seen for ages. Short got so angry that, when he punches the mirror and slices open his hand, it was all for real. Coppola, of course, kept the cameras rolling throughout. Coppola made this only 3 years or so after the end of the Vietnam War and, while it was eventually filmed in the Phillipines, he wanted to film it in Vietnam! PS - If you look at the cast credits and the film poster, you'll see that Laurence Fishburne was just plain Larry Fishburne at the time (I think he was 17 at the time).

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Incidentally, the guy that wrote the voice over narration, Michael Herr, was a Vietnam war correspondent for Esquire Magazine. His book on his experiences in the war, Dispatches, is fucking amazing.

[@GK-yi4xv]

Incredibly, Fishburne was only 14 at the start of filming (17 by the end). He apparently lied about his age to get the role. Remarkable presence on screen for such an age. Sheen replaced a fired Harvey Keitel as Willard.

[@christopherconard2831]

To clarify it's origins, Agent Orange is basically colorless. When sprayed in a heavy concentration it looks white, like spraying water. The name comes from the color markings on the containers it was stored in.

[@okgo620]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas will definitely make you feel like your on acid. It's a trippy movie starring Johnny Depp and Benicio de Toro.

[@craigplatel813]

Did you notice who the first helicopter pilot calling col Kilgore and the radio is. R. Lee Ermy aka GySgt Hartman. If you want to see him in a completely different role check out saving Silverman

[@GK-yi4xv]

@@sparky6086 And most iconically, Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann in Full Metal Jacket. A role for which Ermey became a cult hero with actual Marines, and led to him doing USO visits to the troops during Desert Storm. Which led to becoming the only Marine ever promoted after retirement (promoted the rank he plays in Full Metal Jacket - Gunnery Sergeant)

[@4cenobytes]

Lawrence Fishbourne was 17 when he made this. Yes my friends said they did blast music from the sky. And the most horrific Vietnam movie is Full Metal Jacket

[@korganrocks3995]

He was 14 when he got the role, and 17 by the time the movie got released. No wonder he looked like such a baby compared to Morpheus!

[@4cenobytes]

@@korganrocks3995 my mistake

[@alancrofoot]

Did you notice Francis Coppola doing his best Alfred Hitchcock impression. That was Coppola as the documentary film director on the beach, he told Capt. Willard 'Don't look at the camera'. Also, all the blood in the hotel room scene was real. The reason it felt so real was that Martin was actually hammered. It was his birthday and he'd been drinking all day, in his own words, he was 'Dangerously Drunk'. All he was supposed to do was simply scare himself in the mirror. He decided to strike out but misjudged how close he really was and busted it, cutting the crap out of his hand. Coppola called cut but Sheen begged him to keep rolling,, so they did and the result is what was on screen.

[@adamwhite767]

One of the number of endings for this movie shows the really large artillery, or airstrike that razed the entire outpost that Kurtz had created.

[@davidludwig1492]

Did anyone notice R. Lee Ermey flying the chopper they were riding in?

[@GK-yi4xv]

Yep. His very first role after leaving the Marines.

[@cesarnarro6013]

The scene when we first see Marlon Brando's character and he begins to rinse his face with water, it reminds me of the scene in Dune when the Baron Harkonen is also rinsing his face.